FAQ
- What is SERTS?
- How is a SERTS workshop different from a traditional laboratory course?
- What do you do in SERTS?
- How am I graded for a SERTS workshop?
- How can you benefit from SERTS?
- What do students say about SERTS?
- How do I enroll in a SERTS class?
Workshops begin approximately half-way through the quarter. A workshop consists of a total of eight hours of meetings conducted over 3-4 different sessions. The exact number of sessions and the length of each session are determined by the workshop leader based on the material to be presented. These meetings often take place in the evening or on weekends to accommodate the schedules of students. The workshops meet in the research laboratories, conference rooms associated with the research laboratories, or occasionally in a nearby coffee house if the meeting is primarily to discuss the results of an experiment or a research paper. Over the series of meetings the students and their workshop leader will participate in discussions or demonstrations of the following:
1. An introduction to the research conducted in the laboratory. This should address the significance of the work done in the laboratory to society. A description of the management structure of the laboratory should be given. A tour of the laboratory and associated research facilities is given.
2. A discussion of the process by which a discovery was made in the laboratory. This involves a discussion of the original and alternative hypotheses, the background information that led to the hypotheses, how the experiments were designed to test the hypotheses, who participated in the experiments, the results, how the data were analyzed, and the pertinent conclusions.
3. A demonstration of the techniques used in performing and analyzing experiments.
4. Hands on use of the equipment, computers, etc., that are part of the research laboratory, when appropriate and safe. An opportunity to conduct some of the procedures that are part of an experiment.
5. A discussion of how the results of the experiments fit into the “big picture” of the scientific field. The workshop leader should engage the students in a discussion of why this topic is significant. This often includes reading and discussing one or two research papers from the laboratory or other laboratories doing similar research.
